Movie Review] Spoiler-Free Talk! Akiba Research Institute editors have seen Shin Evangelion the Movie!

The day has finally arrived!

Eight years after the previous "Q," and after overcoming two postponements of its release due to the new coronavirus, "Shin Evangelion the Movie" was released nationwide on March 8, 2021 (Monday).

Needless to say, "Shin Evangelion the Movie" is the fourth film in the four-part "Evangelion" series, and the latest film to be released as the conclusion to the "Evangelion" series.

After the exciting development shown in the first two films, "Evangelion: The Second Coming," the previous film "Q" shocked many viewers by presenting a depressing story similar to the last half of the 1995 TV series "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and a worldview that took a sharp turn in a direction that no one could have predicted.

Some people said, "This is Eva! while others criticized it, saying, "I wanted to see a cheerful Eva! and others criticized it, saying, "I wanted to see a brighter Eva! Others refused to understand it, saying, "I don't understand what it means. And at the end, everyone said, "Is this really going to end next time?" I was one of them.

I was one of them.

So, I went to see "Eva" from early in the morning on March 8, the first day of its opening, to see with my own eyes how it would end.

Of course, this was an interview. I was not there just for fun. So, I bought a popcorn set and introduced it to you. We hope you will purchase these collaborative products to accompany your movie viewing experience. Also, each person is limited to one pamphlet! Don't think twice about buying up all the pamphlets and reselling them!

Even though it was a Monday morning, the theater was almost full. What's going on at work, you guys? I would like to ask myself, "How are you guys doing at work? We are all friends on the warpath, having gathered here on the first day of the event.

Now, before I talk about my impressions of "Shin Evangelion the Movie," let me tell you a little bit about my own Eva history. The title is "Me and Evangelion.

When "Neon Genesis Evangelion" was first broadcast on TV in the fall of 1995, the author, a boy named Arita, was in his third year of junior high school, preparing for the high school entrance exam. It was a time when he was in various states of uncertainty due to vague fears about the future and failure to build relationships with others in his club activities. Also, during this sensitive period, he witnessed (through TV and newspaper reports) such major incidents as the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and the Sarin gas attack on the subway, and was worried about the "end of the century" that was approaching. ...... Looking back on it now, I guess I was just being cool and chuunibi.

The only thing I was passionate about, as someone who was "everywhere in those days," was watching anime. It's a little embarrassing to watch anime when you're old enough. ...... It was a time when there was still such an atmosphere.

Then "Neon Genesis Evangelion" appeared on the scene. Everything about "Eva" was new and exciting for a 15-year-old boy. The story of a boy and a girl about the same age as myself fighting for mankind in a giant weapon eventually morphed into a pedantic, doom-laden story, and as you know, the final episode came like a runaway train crashing through the streets. At the time, in front of the CRT, I was like, "I saw something bad. ......! I shivered with a sense of immorality and unexplainable elation, as if I had seen something I shouldn't have.

The next day, my fellow otaku, including myself, were in an uproar. We circulated the video recording of the final episode and talked about the mystery with our limited knowledge.

Later, as soon as I entered high school, I started doujin activities, drawing bad "Eva" illustrations, writing poor critiques, and deepening exchanges with like-minded people I met at sales events. ......

In the early spring of 1996, it was announced that a new and complete "Eva" movie would be released the following year, and I really cried and rejoiced. In the end, the new movie project was never planned, and the "Eva" story came to an end with "Shito Shinsei" in the spring of 1997 and "Air/Magokoro wo Kimini ni" in the summer of 1997.

It is no exaggeration to say that before the release of "Air/Magokoro wo Kimini ni", the whole of Japan was covered in the color of Eva. The Asahi Shimbun, which boasted an overwhelming circulation as a quality paper at the time, ran a special feature on Eva with a full-page spread, and celebrities from various fields contributed articles. If you went to a bookstore, you would find a stack of books about "Eva," even though you didn't really know what they were about.

Tamosan's Eva impersonation was so popular that it was even funny when he turned on the TV, and Masaharu Fukuyama talked about "Eva" on the radio. The enthusiasm back then was as great as that of today's "Demon Slayer" - maybe even greater.

Around me, my classmates in the soccer club, which is now called "Rear Enrichment" group, would say to us otaku group, "I heard you have a video of Eva. Give it to me! Later, after school, we had a lively discussion about "Eva" in the classroom, including otaku and non-otaku alike.

This was a shocking development for me, as I had been persecuted until then for thinking that anime was "lame" and "anime otaku are creepy. If our beloved "Eva" is being recognized, then maybe we are being recognized as well!

...... Well, those faint hopes had dissipated into the clouds by the time I finished watching "Air/Magokoro wo Kimini ni".

What was that? Was this the Eva I wanted to see? Eva" was an interesting anime, but why did I feel so empty? What was "Eva" in the first place?

With the end of "Eva," my enthusiasm for anime rapidly cooled down, and as I went on to college, I became enthusiastic about playing in a band. ......

However, as the saying goes, "the soul of a triplet lasts until the hundredth," and a few years later, I returned to the world of anime, and here I am today. The joyful days when we were enthusiastic about solving mysteries with our friends, the dreamlike time when we connected with our classmates beyond our school caste through anime, and the impact of "Air/Magokoro wo Kimini ni" that awaited us, all have passed more than 20 years without being resolved or resolved.

Yes, this is exactly the Shinji Ikari and Asuka Shikinami Langley depicted in "Q". As an "Eva" child, I was still "14 years old" and trapped in the world of "Eva," unable to grow up.

In conclusion, "Shin Evangelion the Movie" was a movie that affirmed and accepted my past, and gave me a strong push.

There is a phrase that was repeated impressively throughout the film. It is the phrase "the bottom line".

It was a film that gave us, the children of "Eva," who could not move on from the "Eva" film and the "Eva" series that ended 24 years ago, a chance to make up for the fact that "Eva" had ended the way it did.

At the same time, I was shaken to realize that the message that Hideaki Anno had been conveying through the "Eva" series since the first TV series had not been blurred in the slightest.

Of course, there were changes in expression, characterization, and new messages brought about by the long passage of time. However, as someone who has been under the spell of "Eva" for 26 years, it may sound arrogant to say this, but I can only express my admiration and gratitude to the entire staff who fought with all their might without escaping until the very end.

At the same time, the film is also littered with the small jokes, special effects, and self-parodies that are typical of Anno's work, and I was very busy burning, crying, and laughing. Eva" was, after all, the most entertaining anime ever!

After the two and a half hours of the film, when the staff roll went by and the message "The end of the film" appeared, the phrase that came to my mind was, of course, "Thank you to my father, goodbye to my mother. Thank you to my father, goodbye to my mother, and congratulations to all the children. And congratulations to all the children.

We don't need "Eva" anymore.

Fathers and mothers. I have finally graduated from "Eva.

(Akiba Research Institute Editorial Department, Arita)